What you need to know: On one side of Pennsylvania Avenue, President Barack Obama hosts a news conference where BP and the oil spill will certainly be in the spotlight.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is also set to deliver recommendations to the White House on changes to offshore drilling, after a day of testimony in front of testy lawmakers.

Story Continued Below

On Capitol Hill, there are an astounding five hearings on the oil spill - one in the Senate, four in the House - directly dealing with the Gulf oil spill. They will hit everything from funding, to small business impact, to BP’s liability and responsibility.

TOUGH WORDS FROM DEMS – All from Wednesday's hearing in House Natural Resources: The Minerals Management Service went to "hell in a hand basket" and oil industry assurances "aren't worth spit," says Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), chair of MMS oversight subcommittee "we don't intend to rubberstamp the proposal" to split up MMS. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) told Interior official he is disappointed with Obama administration decision to expand drilling. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) says the Senate "get off the dime and pass a clean energy bill." House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) tells POLITICO that this spill should spur action on a climate bill.

MORE DEM DEFECTION – New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is calling for the outright abolishment of the beleaguered Minerals Management Service, bucking the Obama administration, which wants to overhaul the agency at the center of the Gulf oil disaster.

ADMIN SPIN – A nine-page document entitled "CHANGING THE WAY MMS DOES BUSINESS" is making the rounds. They talk about "cleaning house and ethics reform," eliminating a royalty in-kind program, among other ways they've cleaned up the department. The background document notes that they've bucked the industry and also have aggressively responded to IG report. Most notably: a stark defense of their response to BP: "immediate new inspections," and splitting MMS, among them.

OBAMA WANTS THE BILL, BECAUSE OF THE SPILL – POLITICO's Carol E. Lee in Fremont, Calif., reports: “President Obama called the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico ‘heartbreaking’ and said it makes the passage of climate change legislation all the more urgent this year. ‘The spill in the Gulf, which is just heartbreaking, only underscores the necessity of seeking alternative fuel sources,’ Obama said after declaring climate change a ‘threat to our way of life’ and calling on Congress to pass climate change bill ‘this year.’”

THE ENVIRONMENTAL LEFT SENDS A LETTER TO OBAMA – From Greenpeace, League of Conservation Voters, U.S. Climate Action Network, NRDC, Sierra Club, etc.: "We believe your administration should adopt the following principles. Stop the gusher. Now is not the time for new drilling. Make the Gulf communities and environment whole. Demand more accountability and transparency from government and industry. End dependence on oil and move to a new clean energy economy."

** A message from America’s Natural Gas Alliance: We know we need to use cleaner, American energy. And, we have it now. The U.S. has more natural gas than Saudi Arabia has oil – generations of clean, domestic energy. Learn more at www.anga.us. **

RUNDOWN AND INSIGHT ON TODAY’S HEARINGS:

--Two big ones: House Natural Resources and House Energy and Commerce, environment and energy and environment subcommittee. Expect the success of the "top kill" to dominate all hearings. If successful, its time for cleanup, lawmakers are likely to say. What are the plans for that? If not, what's next?

--In Natural Resources: Part two of its seven part hearing bonanza. They have BP's Lamar McKay, Transocean's Steve Newman and, among others, Randall Luthi President, National Ocean Industries Association.

PLAYBOOK FROM AIDES: Dems will "pivot hard" and hammer Luti, because he was the head of MMS in the Bush administration. Dems have been hammering that reign of MMS for a while for a ton of malfeasance that has surfaced in inspector general reports. From lawmakers to industry execs, expect questions on the lack of disaster plan and the true size of the spill and flow rate.

PLAYBOOK FROM AIDES: Expect questions about whether BP is following the EPA's rules on dispersants and the environmental impact the spill will have. Also, the split up of MMS is sure to come up, and more distance between the administration and House lawmakers. Republicans will hammer Jackson on now-scuttled plan to do a New York fundraiser. Democrats will push back, and remind them about when they went to an oil-sponsored fundraiser right after the disaster.

--House Appropriations’ Interior subcommittee has Salazar, MMS chief Liz Birnbaum, the deputy head of the EPA, Tom Strickland of Interior and Marcia McNutt, the head of the U.S. Geological Survey. McNutt was constantly referred to Wednesday as one of the best scientists in the world - she's intricately involved in the Gulf efforts

FROM THE HORSES' MOUTHS – We talk to the players to find out about what they care about. Subcommittee chairman Jim Moran (D-Va.) tells us "We've been funding the Mineral Management Service at pretty much whatever they asked for. But we thought they were a regulatory agency not a bunch of cheerleaders who were facilitating drilling at any cost." Ranking Republican Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) adds, "They're not going to be able to provide many answers for what we need to know." Simpson says they need more oversight, but the amount of hearings now could be premature.

--House Judiciary has a full lineup, including New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, a Transocean employee who survived the blast, Mississippi's Attorney General Jim Hood, BP VP Daryl Willis and Halliburton VP James Ferguson.

Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) has blanketed Halliburton, BP, Transocean and blowout preventer maker Cameron with letters. For example, he has a lot of questions about insurance: the amount needed to cover expenses resulting from the Deepwater Horizon explosion and any documents that waived liability after the disaster.

Expect the committee to hammer away at what exactly BP is willing to pay and what they must pay. He asks in a letter: "what criteria will BP use to determine 'legitimate claims,' Who will be tasked with determining 'legitimate claims,' will the company insist that 'legitimate claims' be filed within the pertinent statute of limitations?"

--Senate Small Business, chaired by Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu, will delve into the "Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Small Businesses." The panel to watch for: Darryl Willis, VP of BP America, Mike Voisin of Motivatit Seafoods of Houma, La., and Carmen Sunda of the Louisiana Small Business Development Centers.

Landrieu has been tough on BP in insuring they'd pay for lost income for Louisiana businesses. As a chair, expect to hear more. They'll also hear from a Coast Guard official and James Rivera of the Office of Disaster Assistance in the U.S. Small Business Administration.

SHELBY WANTS MORE CASH FOR THE REGION – Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) offered an amendment in the emergency supplemental that would provide $20 million for fisheries in the Gulf, $1 million for the Commerce secretary to commission a study on the impacts of the spill and $15 million for "an expanded stock assessment" of the Gulf fisheries. It's funded by payments into the oil trust fund. "It is critical to proactively work to adequately deal with this man-made crisis. If the oil continues to spill in the Gulf unabated, it will not only destroy the fisheries this year, but will adversely impact the Gulf's ecosystem for decades," he said on the Senate floor.

OTHER ENERGY HAPPENINGS -– Senate Environment and Public Works is looking at the Water Resources Development Act of 2010. Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) will hear from Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy.

YES, A CLIMATE BILL IS COMING – At least the International Emissions Trading Association hopes so. They prodded Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) "to take up climate change legislation immediately," CEO Henry Derwent signs. "The bill has wide-spread support among America's businesses, many of whom are members of the IETA."

KERRY SAYS ITS TIME FOR IT – He writes in Huffington Post: “The American Power Act - according to study out today from Third Way - cuts down on our imports foreign oil, creates 1.9 million jobs in just the first ten years, lowers energy bills for Americans, and finally starts to wean us off our oil addiction. Just ask anyone on the Gulf Coast how important that last point is.”

--NYT A1, “ BP Used Riskier Method to Seal Oil Well Before Blast,” by Ian Urbina: “Several days before the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, BP officials chose, partly for financial reasons, to use a type of casing for the well that the company knew was the riskier of two options, according to a BP document. The concern with the method BP chose, the document said, was that if the cement around the casing pipe did not seal properly, gases could leak all the way to the wellhead, where only a single seal would serve as a barrier. Using a different type of casing would have provided two barriers.”

--WSJ A1, “ Unusual Decisions Set Stage for BP Disaster,” by Ben Casselman and Russell Gold: “BP made choices over the course of the project that rendered this well more vulnerable to the blowout ... [BP] cut short a procedure involving drilling fluid that is designed to detect gas in the well and remove it before it becomes a problem ... BP also skipped a quality test of the cement around the pipe—another buffer against gas—despite what BP now says were signs of problems with the cement job and despite a warning from cement contractor Halliburton Co.”

--WaPo A1, “ Effort to plug well 'proceeding as we planned’,” by Joel Achenbach: “The ‘top kill’ is underway, success uncertain. BP engineers are pumping mud at a furious rate into the damaged blowout preventer that sits on the uncapped well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. … The early bulletins on the top kill were encouraging. … BP chief executive Tony Hayward said Wednesday evening … that it would be 24 hours before BP knows if the well is dead.”

--WSJ A7, “ Interior's Salazar Takes Heat From All Sides,” by Stephen Power: “The huge spill in the Gulf of Mexico has put [Interior Secretary Ken] Salazar on the political hot seat. He is under pressure from some on the Democratic Party's left wing to scale back drilling in federal waters. Many Republicans, on the other hand, are urging him not to use the Gulf spill as a reason to curb domestic oil production. At the same time, disclosures of lax federal oversight of the offshore drilling industry by the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service have forced Mr. Salazar to explain whether he moved fast enough to overhaul the agency after he took office in early 2009.”

--GRAPHIC: How the ‘top kill’ method is designed to plug a leaking oil well. Graphic

MOOD OF THE GULF:

--Miami Herald, “ BP seeks oil-tested judge on lawsuits," by Scott Hiaasen and Curtis Morgan: “Facing some 100 lawsuits after its Gulf of Mexico oil spill killed 11 workers and threatened four coastal states, oil giant BP is asking the courts to place every pre-trial issue in the hands of a single federal judge in Houston. That judge, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes, has traveled the world giving lectures on ethics for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, a professional association and research group that works with BP and other oil companies. The organization pays his travel expenses. … Legal experts say the request for a single judge, while not unprecedented, is unusual and surmise BP is seeking rulings from a judge well-versed in the company's issues.”

--New Orleans Times-Picayune, “ Four oil-cleanup workers fall ill; Breton Sound fleet ordered back to dock”: “Fishing boats helping clear oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill from Breton Sound have been called back to dock after four workers reported health problems Wednesday afternoon … Crew members on three boats reported nausea, dizziness, headaches and chest pains Wednesday about 3:30 p.m. Four workers were taken to West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero for treatment … As a precaution, Unified Command directed all 125 of the commercial vessels that had been outfitted with equipment for oil recovery operations in the Breton Sound area, to return to their temporary accommodations in Breton Sound.”

--St. Pete Times, “ Oil fears on northern gulf coast put chill on tourism here,” by Steve Huettel: “Hordes of visitors haven't canceled Florida vacations because of the gulf oil spill. But lots of potential tourists are worried enough to put off booking a trip or to look elsewhere. … Tourism businesses in the Panhandle are taking the hardest hit.”

** A message from America’s Natural Gas Alliance: One solution for more abundant domestic energy is staring us in the face. Natural gas is the natural choice—now and in the future. We know we need to use cleaner, American energy. And, we have it. Today, the U.S. has more natural gas than Saudi Arabia has oil, giving us generations of this clean, domestic energy source. Natural gas supports 2.8 million American jobs, most states are now home to more than 10,000 natural gas jobs. As Congress and the Administration look for ways toward a cleaner tomorrow, the answer is right here: natural gas. Learn more at www.anga.us. And, follow us on Twitter @angaus. **

Authors:

About The Author

Tim Alberta is national political correspondent for POLITICO Magazine.

About The Author

Jake Sherman is a senior writer for POLITICO and co-author of POLITICO’s Playbook, the most indispensable morning newsletter for the biggest influencers in politics.

Jake is the top congressional reporter on Capitol Hill and has built a career on landing hard-to-get scoops

Since 2009, Jake has chronicled all of the major legislative battles on Capitol Hill, and has also traveled the country to cover the battle for control of Congress.

Jake takes readers inside the rooms where decisions are made. His high-impact reporting resulted in the resignation of Aaron Schock.

Before landing at POLITICO, Jake worked in the Washington bureaus of The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He also interned on the metro desk of The Journal News (N.Y.) and, during high school, worked on the sports desk of the Stamford Advocate (Conn.).

Jake is a Connecticut native, and a graduate of The George Washington University — where he edited The GW Hatchet — and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Jake lives in Washington with his wife Irene, and listens to an unhealthy amount of Grateful Dead and Phish.